AI player portraits?

What's up with the AI player portraits? Some players have real photos, but others seem to have AI portraits...even stars like KAT. Why? Is this a certain setting I need to turn off?

Hahaha, yes. I've noticed the same thing. I think they're made or retouched with AI.

A lot of portraits are horrible. I mean...why don't you take the regular photos from NBA.com? Or aren't they allowed to? It's 2025...no need to use bad-looking portraits. There aren't that many players in the game...just give everyone a scanned appearance and no 3D-generated appearance just like T. Kolek has...and when viewing the retro rosters, almost all players have ugly looks, either because of the facial expressions (check out Ewing or Malone) or even problems with zooming in too much. There is no general style how all players should look, but some use photos, some 3D, some AI...and a lot of them look really bad, which shouldn't be in THE official NBA game in 2025. Come on.

Even Live 1995 had better photos on PC.

One wouldn't think it's a rights issue, since players have Media Day headshots and Visual Concepts has plenty of access as a partner of the NBA. I suppose it's possible in some cases, though my guess it's oversight/lack of care.